Re: Vista Wireless Problems: Connected with Limited Access / Local

I did disable QoS, IPv6, LinkLayer Topologies and switched power on the
wirelss adapter to Max. That has resolved the connectivity issue on
downloads. That's good! Now the problem is that downloads are slow <100KB/sec
on the wireless although the Comcast account I have supports 6MB/sec so I
should have plenty room for improvement on the wireless. Using Speakeasy.org
to test the upload/download speed looks good, and I'm seeing about 350KB/sec
download per file on a test of 3 concurrent file downloads with a 100Mbit
cable, which seems OK. So now I'm research wireless download speed
improvement tweaks. Thanks! Craig.

"Barb Bowman" wrote:

check for a firmware update for the gateway and new drivers for the
network adapter. which exact Netgear Gateway? What network adapter
is in the problematic computer?

The problem I have had appears similar in that downloads are slow and hang
the connection, and it's hard to get the connection back. However, surfing,
email etc works fine. Using a 100Mbit cable to the Netgear gateway works
fine. This is on a Toshiba laptop with Vista and a netgear gateway. My other
XP IBM laptop is fine. I've had Comcast come out and check but the problem
remains. It is just on relatively large downloads of any type of file, it
will generally hang within a few seconds.

1) Change the channel on your router from 6 to 12. Ultimately, I think
this was the most important thing for my situation.

This is a key item if there's interference from non-computer devices.
FWIW, only channels 1, 6, and 11 have unique bands, the others all
overlap one channel or another, so these are preferred to avoid
interference issues.

5) Switch the power setting on your Wireless Adapter to "Max" or
"Always On". Powering it up and down to save energy *might* cause
connection problems.

I assume by Max you mean the Vista power management setting. Also go
into Device Manager and set the device to never power down.

I'm not a fan of doing this beyond the time it takes you to do
diagnostics. Note that disabling SSID will not stop serious hackers at
all, just amateurs, but it still feels nicer to hide.

9) Disable Wireless Security on your router. I've since turned this
back on (WPA-TKIP) with no connection problems, and it's critical to
turn this back on if you broadcast your SSID.

Shutting off all security is a popular way to resolve INITIAL
connection problems. I'm not so sure it matters with dropped
connections but who knows. Always turn it back on after resolving.

BTW, it's obvious after going through so many posts (including some
posts where MS staffers were asking questions) that Microsoft knows this
is widespread and doesn't know how to fix it yet. It's increasingly hard
to believe they didn't see this problem before they released Vista.

Ain't it just (obvious, that is!). Vista apparently has all sorts of
networking problems related to it's alleged enhanced security, alleged
enhanced power management, and just general mucking up the previously
working code by MS. But, they're too deep into their own superiority
complex to even begin to recognize the depth of Vista's problems in
the real world.